Modeling

But that's not saying a lot. There are a number of interesting concepts presented in this book and the coverage of existing products is well done. On the downside, there are too many words expended about what is to be covered in each chapter which would be better spent in actual coverage; the book lacks continuity. Still, it is unique as it is the only book on the subject that covers in any sort of depth implementation concerns.

Have you ever had difficulty overcoming the inertia of "getting started" when preparing for a requirements gathering session? How often do you encounter subject matter experts who are not quite sure just what it is that they "need" from an information standpoint? I have found "The Data Model Resource Book" to be of significant assistance in preparing for Logical Modeling Sessions. In an effort to develop "Straw Man" models, in particular, this book has proven to be an excellent resource. In some cases, the basic concepts identified in the book, if not the structures of the models themselves, survive the analysis effort. The definitions and the structures provide stimuli to the thinking of the project team, resulting in a more thorough analysis of the subject area under consideration. I agree that Kimball's book "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" is probably the best resource going for data warehouse design and implementation with today's technology. It is true that this book is not the "Silver Bullet" for slaying the data modeling werewolf. Nonetheless, for a wide variety of applications, (particularly Operational Applications) "The Data Model Resource Book" has been of much assistance.

This is a good book to get the juices flowing if you are unsure of how to model certain business processes, but some of the models in the book are poor examples of database design. Some of the data warehouse models, in particular, are alarmingly bad, and don't follow some proven best practices.

I think the beginner database designer will get a lot out of it -- seeing the complexities in database design. The expert will get a little from it -- a good kick-start on a design, but you will be able to see the faults. Someone with a little knowledge that relies on this book too much, however, will be sorry.

The Resource Book is one of the more useful books I have seen on data architecture. It is just what it says: an (excellent) resource library for seven logical data models, one warehouse design, and two data mart designs. These data models and designs can be used as templates or starting points for your own modeling, an introduction to subject areas you might not be familiar with, validating your existing models, and a help to building a corporate data model. The logical models tend to be very complete. You probably won't need all their features, but they provide a good reference.

The book provides a good notation for showing the relationship among high-level models, mid-level models, and data warehouse and data mart designs. Instance tables (sample data) help bring the models to life. The book also provides a good methodology for transforming logical data models to data warehouse designs. The book is an extremely useful resource.

This was my first book that I purchased for learning 3d studio max.. I also bought the fundamental book too.. I've only flip through couples of pages then I put it away to collect dust. The exercise are hard to follow, they gave complete instruction for teaching you a certain command. But you wouldn't find motivation to delve in to the 3d world by building something that's meaningless. The book is only good for advance user as it'll teaches you how to press certain short cut keys and stuff..

I found this book hard to comprehend.. even if I'm a immediate user, I wouldn't picked this book, as this is so boring.. It teaches you how to do certain things, but don't tell you much why you are doing it, or why is it necessary to take the steps..

there are few other good ones out there if you are a intermediate user...

This book is not bad, just lack of good modeling example, this book is really for beginner, Anyway, the mapping tutorials are good.

There's a thing common to all classic books: even if you've read one from cover to cover you discover something new every time you open it. Things that you glossed over earlier suddenly start to make sense. This book is no exception. Since 'Inside 3D Studio Rel. 3' the authors have provided an unique insight into the world's most popular 3D programs. This book raises the standard even further, providing enough grip for the novice and a treasure trove of knowledge of the professional. The best thing about this book is the explanation of the PRINCIPLES behind 3D Studio MAX. Instead of the 'do this-screen shot-do that' methodology, the authors have concentrated in the core ideas behind every tool and procedure. If you want MAX to be an extension to your right brain, get this book. Read it all the time. Do the tutorials. Keep referring to it for ideas. You'll discover what you were missing with other books -- the real goods on making MAX dance to your tune.

When will writers stop glossing over the world of modeling and start telling the truth. Yes, there are superstars, although they are kept at bay these days. Books need to tell young women more facts and less fantasy.

I would like to express my appreciation to Ms. Rubinstein for the expert advice given in her book The Modeling Life. My daughter Kristy recently just took fourth place in the 1998 "Express Find the Next Model Search" and received a guaranteed $50,000 contract. She has also been recently offered an editorial job with Seventeen Magazine. I purchased your book for her on a trip to New York last summer to meet with prospective agencies. I believe the advice helped prepare her for the contest and gave her that winning edge. Sincerely, Mrs. Combs

THE MODELING LIFE is a must have for all those people and their parents who are serious about modeling. I have two teenagers - a boy and a girl - who are into modeling. We use this terrific book as our guide and inspiration. Ms. Rubinstein covers all the bases -- so whoever trashed this book (person from Canada) truly must not have read the book or understood how to use it. Because if anyone thinks that a person with Ms. Rubinstein's credentials and experience would suggest that you should follow the advice of classmates -- must not have read the book. This book has also been endorsed by all the top modeling agents including Ilene and Katie Ford, Monique Pillard, Jan Planit, Irene Marie and Page Parkes. That in itself is reason enough to use this book. Not only that but Ms. Rubinstein has launched the careers of Niki Taylor, Tyra Banks, Kate Moss, Cameron Diaz and Liv Tyler -- so I would say she knows what she is talkng about. So if you want to naively take the modelng world on by youself then that is your choice, but there is no reason to ignorantly trash such an important and legitamite modeling handbook.

This is the required textbook for a graduate course I am taking in Information Studies. Having been assured by the professor that one needed no math, science, or computer background to do well, I put aside my reservations. But here we are, one month into the semester, with this book as our only teaching tool, and I am failing the course. (I thus far have a 3.93 average in grad school)

The bottom line - this book is NOT a good instructional tool, especially not for beginners.

This book is an excellent, comprehensive, INTRODUCTION to relational database theory. The book clearly explains what are usually the most frustrating, yet critical, concepts for those new to database design and implementation - entity-relationship modeling, normalization, and transaction management - through the use of illustrated examples, diagrams, and comprehensible text. Of course, the book also thoroughly covers the essential concepts of SQL, ODBC, security, and data integrity.

Database Systems also offers some treatment of more advanced database topics like Web connectivity (JDBC, ASP, XML), OLAP, data warehousing, object-oriented databases, and object-relational databases.

The book is well organized and logical in sequence, and thus makes a good reference book as well.

Notes: This is NOT A "COMPLETE REFERENCE" for all database systems. The book does not offer "complete" coverage of specialized database concepts/issues like database performance tuning, OLAP, or data warehousing, though these subjects are examined in the book to some extent. These subjects are complex enough to warrant separate texts. Also, the book does not exclusively embrace any relational database software title (Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, etc.) Since any one of these products is extremely complex, do not buy this book in expectation of becoming a vendor-specific DBA. Again, separate texts would be required to realize such an achievement.

This book will take you from the basics to advanced. Covers tons of stuff (actual page count is over 1000 pp): basic and adv SQL, query tuning, database design, security, ODBC, object oriented databases, distributed systems, relational algebra, security, OLAP and datawarehousing. Its coverage is not skimpy or superficial either. The design chapters are excellent - especially if you're a professional and don't just hack together databases. Also, I found this book easy to read. You won't have to reread stuff because it's poorly written.

A very useful book for a complex subject. To be fair, I must disclose that I just completed the Database Techniques course at Middle Tennessee State with Mr. Coronel as the instructor (a co-author of the book). I do not know Dr. Rob, but Coronel was a great teacher and used the book extensively. We covered the entire book (5th ed) and I have actually read it; unlike some reviewers have admitted too. I believe the book is useful for learning the basics of database design. Topics such as normalization, entity relationships and SQL queries and transactions are very complex. I had been exposed to these topics in other classes, but never quite grasped them. This book helped me understand these topics and to achieve proficiency in using the tools in database design. The problems and review questions at the end of each chapter were useful for applying the knowledge in hands-on exercises to reinforce learning. Other reviewers have given the book low scores for having mistakes and unworkable assignments. Sure the book has mistakes, but I do not believe any book is perfect. The class found some mistakes in the 5 th ed, but those were noted and will be corrected in the next edition. Also mentioned by a reviewer were the assignments that were "literally impossible" to complete. That's curious? I completed them just fine. This isn't a book I would buy to just try to learn on my own. I think you need an experienced teacher to guide you through the process. However, if this book is required for a database class and you are debating whether you should by it, by all means, get it. I think you can learn much from it.

This new edition text book cover every issues of modern database design and implement, with popular industral database tools such Microsoft Access and Oracle example. So you can do it right away while learning it. It covers relational database, distributed DBMS, file system, SQL, E-R modeling, normalization, client/server system, object-oriented DB, data warehouse. The book is colorful and graphical, easy to follow.

If you are taking a college level course in the fundamentals of database design and you are having a hard time understanding what your professor is talking about, then this textbook is a must. Your professor might cover the topics in a difference sequence, but you could very easily find your way around in this textbook. It covers all the basics of relational design (which is the topic most colleges teach) in an excellent manner. It is full of textual examples coupled with graphical representations. No need to get the latest edition. Even an older one would do. Have fun with databases.

This book is commendable to those looking for a quick practitioner's introduction to established numerical techniques in derivatives modelling. It is compehensive enough to get you ready to code your own models immediately, using your own choice of finite difference or Monte Carlo schemes.

This is not to say that there are no analytic solutions presented in this book. Quite the opposite: I found the fact that a good third of the space is taken up by investigations into analytic models somewhat disappointing, as that is perhaps the area where Mathematica gives you the least advantage over other platforms.

The part dealing with finite difference and Monte Carlo schemes is excellent, however. The mathematics of the models is introduced in a very clear and concise fashion, and after this no-nonsense introduction you get straight into coding things up in Mathematica.

Against the background of the high-quality discussion of the issues that do find their way into this book, the number of currently important topics that are lacking treatment is regrettable. I would have particularly liked to see examples of inverse problems, letting Mathematica do the work of calibrating model parameters to more market observables than e.g. just constant stock volatility. Wouldn't we all love to use Mathematica for the calibration, as well as the evaluation and benchmarking of such hotly discussed models like stochastic volatility models or local volatility models? How much time we could save by not having to code all these steps in C++ or worse environments! It seems it would have been a small step for the author to take us that little bit further along, but a large step for the majority of the readership who doesn't share the author's proficiency in the use of Mathematica. Still, if this more advanced level of usage is your aim, the book will at least start you off on the right track.

The author has judiciously combined a distinguished academic background with several years of real world experience in financial derivatives to produce a superb book.

For a reader familiar with or interested in using Mathematica for (mostly Equity) derivative modelling and valuation, I cannot recommend a better book in the market.

Even for readers not familiar with Mathematica, the treatment of finite difference methods, the need for multiple time step techniques, and the analysis of errors arising from using these techniques is well worth a careful read. The treatment of how various trees binomial, trinomial etc. fall out as special cases of more general discretisation methods is one of the clearest I have seen.

Wall Street modellers will do well to review their algorithms and implement many of the techniques offered in this book. Easy accessibility of the code (CDROM accompanies the book) for Mathematica users is of course a big plus.

Altogether, an excellent addition to my derivatives library.

I found William Shaw's book fascinating when I first bought it back in 1999 and have recently gone back to it for some further insight on some complex problems in finance.
It is a well-structured book that requires a basic understanding of both quantitative finance and Mathematica before you can really get to grips with it BUT having said that the complexity that the author gets to is excellent.
I would recommend this book to anyone in University studying for a Quant-rlated finance Masters or PhD - and anyone practicing in the real world - this should be on your shelf alongisde your copy of Mathematica.

I read an earlier edition of the book back in the mid 90s. At the time, that was the first serious book on relational database theory I read. I thought the earlier edition was a great introduction to the topic. It was a tough "college textbook" read, but well worth it.

I would no longer recommend the latest version as an introductory text. One gripe is Date's introduction of his own language "Tutorial-D" to explain and illustrate concepts. There is no one place in the book you can go to for a comprehensive description of Tutorial-D. Instead, snippets of it are peppered throughout the text. Another gripe: he can be long-winded and pedantic, and he uses phrases like "mutatis mutandi." I understand he is a man with a mission to be exacting and precise. But somehow, he seems to have overdone it in this edition.

The latest edition has many new chapters on object-relational, temporal databases, logic databases, and decision support systems. These are very convenient overviews, as always, filtered through Date's unerring and zealous devotion to the underlying relational theory.

I think if you already understand relational theory and you are a practitioner in the field, this is still a comprehensive "must have book." But if you are starting out, you will want a kinder-and-gentler introduction. The "love-it-or-hate-it" reviews seems to support this viewpoint.

I rated it 4 stars because (1) it is a classic (2) it is comprehensive (3) it is a reference work that any serious practitioner will want and (4) it has extensive and well-annotated references at the end of each chapter.

I withheld the 5th star for the gripes I mentioned above.

I received the fourth edition from my father way back when I was in school. Yes it is hard to read if you don't want to take the time to understand the mathematics and don't want to learn the theory. But 13 years later this is still the book to read if you really want to understand the foundation of relational databases. Don't read this book first if you're learning about relational databases. Read it when you have the time to devote to understanding the concepts and theory. If you understand the theory this book presents, you can and will be able to see and solve problems in your designs that others cannot.

All theoretical technical books are meant for you to fundamentally and intuitively understand the subject so you can solve problems and performance issues that sometimes even the vendors can't. If you don't have those problems or you have someone else solve them for you, then don't buy this book. Otherwise consider this book as a must have for relational database design.

If you are into DB theory, and you want to gain a strong understanding of it, this is one of the best avenues to get you there. There's not one single thing about this book that isn't totally great. Everything, everything about it is first rate.

I have read both the User's Guide and the Reference Manual, which are generally intended to be bought as a pair. The Reference Manual is better organized, and is an invaluable resource for anyone who does a lot of UML modeling.

This book, however, is just a dump of UML information, fairly ecletic but not always in sufficient depth. It is good information, but the poor organization makes it useless after the initial reading.

If you are looking to learn UML, it IS possible to get a good feel for it from this book. However, something like "UML for Dummies" will also give you a good introduction, at a better price. If you will be modeling a lot, and want a deep understanding of UML, then it would be wiser to buy the Reference Manual instead.

This is a great book on UML written by three leading methodologists at Rational Rose (Jacobson, Booch, and Rumbaugh) who solicited input from the major software players in the industry during the development of UML.

I read most of the UML Toolkit book that was published before the UML Users Guide, but it was rather dry reading and didn't cover UML comprehensively like the UML Users Guide does.

After reading the UML Users guide, and maybe the Unified Process by the same authors, you can apply this knowledge to manage the complexity and architecture of large systems, assuming that not only do you understand all of the UML notation, but know how to apply it through education, training and expertise.

The UML Users guide is well written and has very short granular chapters that cover one self-contained concept of the UML. It is a must read for any serious software engineer who wants to speak a common modeling language and get beyond a code and fix type approach to development.

This is the best book on UML. An excellent book on all aspects of UML methodology. This book comes from those who framed the methodology and that aspect makes it more valuable to the reader, experienced or otherwise.

The book starts of with reasons for modeling with real world examples. For a novice, this will be the best introduction to modeling - why is it needed in the first place.

The book also describes the evolution of UML (best practises of OOSE,OMT and Booch) which will benefit people in all levels of software engineering.

Any modeling technique needs to address the following three components a) Structural b) Behavioral and c) Architecture.

This book contains explanations for all of the above three components in separate sections. Even advance behavioral/structural modeling is discussed.

The structural modeling is described with explanations on a) Objects & classes b) relationship between classes c) class diagrams

The behavioral modeling is described with explanations on a) use case diagrams b) interaction diagrams c) activity diagrams and importantly d) state charts to name a few.

The architecture modeling is described with explanations on deployment, collaborations and component diagrams to name a few.

I would recommend interested OO developers/managers to acquire this book as a reference material for OO development needs.

I couldnt find anything helpful in this book. I really dont know why its rated that good. The Inside Softimage book is so much better.

I bought Softimage 3D Design Guide, because it was the only book (print form) available for Softimage at the time (December, 1997). Reading This book is like reading a novel, and you have to keep reading until you finish the whole book before you can have a general picture of what the book's tutorial is tring to teach. It didn't explain the general interface of Softimage, and hardly mention the concept behind the powerful Softimage. Things are spreading throught out chapters. If you want to find a command that you learned in the previous chapter, you will find yourself in the "twilight zone". For a technical book to explain the magnitute of Softimge- it requires in depth review of Softimage's interface; installation and preparation; concepts and theories; modeling tehniques; animation techniques; textures and materials; lighting and atmospheres; cameras and motion; rendering and post production; script and plug-ins; a list of commands and definitions. This book barely explains half of what I mention in the above. Although Softimage 3D Design Guide has a beautiful cover and in glossy print, it's content is a sharp contrast to it's cover. I don't recommend this book, because I rather read a boring manual.

I rated this what I did because it IS exactly what it says it is- a design guide. If you are a rank amateur, you will get a lot out of this book that you would scratching your head for hours or days trying to figure out using the manuals alone. If you are artistically inclined, you will like the included artwork which will give you an idea of what is possible with the program.

The exercises definitely give you a familiarity with the software which is important if you ever want to be productive. If this was a book full of tutorials, you may very well become an expert on creating a few specific types of things, but what they did here is give you a straightforward explanation of the various functions of the menu items and such, which goes a longer way in making you proficient in the entire package instead of a few select areas. It's like the old saying, "give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day...teach a man how to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime".

They inspire you to create your own work instead of reproducing someone else's and gaining nothing in the process.